NFL
Fantasy Football: 4 Things We Learned From Week 8
What are some main takeaways from Week 8 regarding your fantasy football teams?

The Raiders Backfield Is Still Annoying

Back in Week 4, our own JJ Zachariason recommended fantasy owners sell Latavius Murray in his weekly DeAndre Washington and Jalen Richard getting significant work.

But when he came back from injury in Week 7, things looked different. He carried the ball 18 times, handling 67% of the team’s carries, easily his highest workload on the season.

And it wasn't crazy to think the Oakland Raiders would continue with Murray as the primary back moving forward. Heading into Week 8, he was still the most productive running back on the team despite missing two games. And even though he had a lower Rushing Success Rate than his rookie backfield mates, a 43.10% success rate is still a good bit above league average (40.70%).

PlayerRushing NEP Rush NEP per RushSuccess Rate
Latavius Murray3.830.0743.10%
Jalen Richard2.370.0845.16%
DeAndre Washington-2.66-0.0645.65%


But in Week 8, Murray handled only 11 of the team's 22 running back carries. The Raiders are already a pass-heavy team, ranking 12th in the league in pass-to-run ratio, a ranking that's sure to rise after Derek Carr's 59 pass attempts against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

So without more team rushing volume, and with the Raiders' coaching staff determined to keep their rookies involved in the running back rotation, Murray's back to being a touchdown-dependent RB2. And it's likely it will remain that way the rest of the season.

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